[Chris Seguine]

Mathieu,

1-playback a 2K sequence to a NTSC SDI output?
2-output a NTSC DigiBeta master tape from a 2K sequence in realtime?

Yes it will do the the conversion, but NO it will not be correct. Due to problems with the aja codec/vout and quicktime gamma handling – RGB sources are a mess. In your case RGB -> 601, the gamma will be wrong, blacks clipped then boosted, and whites clipped. So if its just a dub to mix to its ok, but if the image is important you would be better to render it.

Also remember, its a 2k crop – not a scale. So your 2k sequence gets cropped to 1920×1080, then scaled to SD.

3-make a NTSC BetaSP master tape from a 1080psf 23.98 sequence?
4-playback a 1080psf 23.98 sequence to a NTSC SDI output?

That will work fine as long as your 1080p sequence is YUV.

but

[Mathieu Marano] “Mat says:
The Kona will do the pulldown on output and the downconvert to NTSC? Will I then be able to EDIT TO TAPE? ”
(gary adcock) yes it will.

No, it will not. FCP assumes your VTR is the same time base as your sequence – even if you choose a different frame rate vtr control. You can print to tape, but not edit to tape, your points will be wrong and the edit will abort.

Thanks for the SilverStack mention, I never heard of that before, the HCD version looks promising.

—
Christopher Seguine
Sublime Films, San Francisco

[Chris Seguine]

(gary adcock) “The AJA 10 bit Log codec is the only one supported “

No:

“Color also supports the following third-party codecs for import.
AJA Kona 10-bit Log RGB
AJA Kona 10-bit RGB”

Both are supported, neither properly, and the Log codec is not even available as a choice on the quicktime export list.

“Actually not, it is so that files the are used in the”Send to Color” command from FCP are not improperly rendered as FCP;s default color space”

Actually, yes.

“Force RGB: This setting is meant to be used when you

[Chris Seguine]

R3d, yes there are additional problems monitoring AJARGB as you described.

This has been addressed in FCP in the 5.0 aja driver, if you select 1080 10bit RGB as our vout you will no longer get gamma shifts between play/pause, and the Kona output will be a RGB frame buffer.

This is not the case in Color, RGB output is not a selectable option – so yes in Color you are always monitoring in YUV converted space, not a good way to work. Specially since the Color scopes are YUV and not switchable to RGB.

Gary,

Using the AJARGBLog codec will not address the problem, and is not even really possible in Color. The Log/Lin conversion option for DPX and Cineon that is detailed in the manual, does not exist in the software – and it was never for AJARGBLog anyway.

ForeceRGB setting is for YUV source media only, not applicable to AJARGB or AJARGBLog.

BroadcastSafe Settings will clip values no matter what codec you use, Log or Linear.

There are situations to use a LOG codec and situations to use the Lin codec, both need to function correctly.

The codec chosen is dictated by the source material. LOG/Linear based on your telecine/camera choice, and Full/SMPTE based on your SR recorder settings/data settings.

There are plenty of problems with Color, this particular problem is a codec issue.

—
Christopher Seguine
Sublime Films, San Francisco

[Chris Seguine]

Aja 10bit rgb is still broken in color with the 5.0 codec.

Silicon Color supported AJA10bit RGB before it had a range dialog option. When apple adopted it they did not add a quicktime options dialog or choose the correct range setting.

Color imports AJARGB codec correctly
Color processes at FULL range
On render to AJARGB it uses the codec default, SMPTE.
So the range gets stretched out and black 0-64 get crushed to 0 and whites 940-1024 get clipped to 1024. You can verify this by just creating a ramp in After Effects and importing it into color and rendering it with no grade.

It always looks correct in Color, because color never shows you the rendered file – it always shows you the grade applied live on the source media, even after you have rendered. Bad design.

The workaround – Import AJARGB, but Render to DPX (or cineon). Use AJA tool to wrap DPX as AJA quicktime if you are going to SR and not working as data.

You can also add a primary out grade that kind of corrects the problem, but you would be loosing some quality as your pulling and pushing ranges needlessly.

If AJA just made FULL the default range setting it would be a simple fix to the problem.

Send a email to AJA, they are aware of the problem, but a nudge might help move it up the todo list.

—
Christopher Seguine
Sublime Films, San Francisco